Pairdesk

PairDesk

Control your laptop from your phone. Pair once, then just open the app and go — no codes or "accept" prompts every time.

Website: https://pairdesk.madhushan.me · Licence: GPL-3.0-or-later

Status: 0.11. Pair once with a QR code or a link; after that the phone connects whenever the computer is on, with no prompts. Connections are encrypted and only paired phones get in. Touchpad, keyboard, shortcut buttons, an app launcher, power controls, a live view of the screen, clipboard and files, on your Wi-Fi or from anywhere (Tailscale or the PairDesk relay), two-way sound, and "Get help" links to help someone else for a while. Installers for Windows and Linux, automatic updates, smooth H.264 screen view, and on Windows the lock screen, sign-in screen and admin prompts.

What works now

Quick start

Get the downloads from pairdesk.madhushan.me or the latest release.

1. Computer: install PairDesk.
   • Windows: run PairDesk-Setup-…-x64.exe (no administrator rights needed). If SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher, choose More info → Run anyway. When Windows Firewall asks, allow Private networks.
   • Linux: install the .deb (Ubuntu, Debian, Mint) or .rpm (Fedora, openSUSE), or make the AppImage executable and run it. Then open PairDesk from the app menu. In a Wayland session (the default on Ubuntu and Fedora), your desktop asks once whether PairDesk may control it: tick Allow Remote Interaction (keep Allow Clipboard Access on), pick your screen, keep Remember This Selection on and press Share.
2. PairDesk opens with a QR code: in its own window on Windows, as a page in your browser on Linux.
3. Phone: install the APK, open PairDesk, tap Scan pairing code and scan it.

That's it. From now on, open PairDesk on the phone and it connects by itself. The agent starts when you sign in to the computer and lives in the tray; click the tray icon to open it, pair another phone or remove one.

Updating: PairDesk checks for new releases once a day and offers Install update on its page (the Windows setup, the program files and the AppImage update themselves; with the .deb/.rpm, install the new package). Each update is signed; PairDesk checks the signature and checksum first. The phone app (from GitHub) shows when a new version is out.

Upgrading the phone app from 0.7 or earlier: uninstall the old app first (it was signed with a test key), install 0.8 and pair again.

Phone and computer must be on the same Wi-Fi. Some guest or campus networks block devices from talking to each other; a phone hotspot or home Wi-Fi works.

Pair with a link instead of the QR code

On the computer, under the QR code, press Copy next to the link and send it to your phone (a chat with yourself, an email). Tap it on the phone: PairDesk opens and pairs. The link works once, for 10 minutes. In the app, Paste a link works too.

Links go from the computer to the phone, not the other way: the phone connects to the computer, so the computer has to hand out its address and a one-time code.

Help someone else

1. They install PairDesk on their computer, open it and press Get help (Home).
2. They send you the link it shows (chat, email).
3. You tap it on your phone and confirm. You can see and control their screen; power, session, files and sound stay off for you.
4. Access ends after 2 hours, 5 minutes after you disconnect, or when they press End help. Your phone then forgets that computer.

Across the internet this goes through the PairDesk relay, so no setup is needed on either side. The relay only passes encrypted data along; see docs/RELAY.md to run your own.

Use it away from home

Usually nothing to do: when the phone can't reach the computer directly, it goes through the PairDesk relay (Remote access on the computer shows whether the relay is connected). For a direct, private route you can use Tailscale instead:

1. Install Tailscale on the computer and on the phone, and sign in to both with the same account (free for personal use).
2. Open PairDesk on the phone once at home, so it learns the computer's Tailscale address.
3. Away from home, turn Tailscale on, on the phone, and open PairDesk. The title bar shows whether you're connected via Wi-Fi or Tailscale.

The computer must be awake: turn on Keep this computer awake on its PairDesk page if it tends to sleep.

Known limits

• Windows: the lock screen, the sign-in screen and administrator (UAC) prompts need Sign-in screen and admin prompts turned on in PairDesk's settings (Windows asks for administrator permission once). Windows that run as administrator can't be controlled without it either. Not available in the Microsoft Store version.
• Linux Wayland works through the desktop's remote desktop permission (tested on GNOME; KDE Plasma offers the same permission). While a phone is connected the desktop shows that it's being shared. Desktops without that permission (Sway, Hyprland and other wlroots desktops) need an X11 session. Characters that aren't on your keyboard layout can't be typed on GNOME Wayland.
• On GNOME, the tray icon needs the AppIndicator extension (Ubuntu has it); without it, run the agent again to open its page.
• If you move the agent program to another folder, turn Start PairDesk when I sign in off and on again on its page.
• On Linux without a desktop, pairdesk-agent --pair prints the QR code in the terminal.
• The Microsoft Store and Flatpak copies can't add Send to → PairDesk phone to the file manager; drop files on PairDesk's page instead.
• Windows reserves a few shortcuts that no app can send, such as Ctrl+Alt+Delete and Win+L. Use the Power tab to lock.
• With the helper on, the lock screen and UAC prompts are shown at a lower frame rate (they're read through the helper).
• Linux power actions use loginctl/systemctl, which most desktops allow for the signed-in user; screen off uses GNOME's display settings, kscreen-doctor (KDE) or xset (X11).

Build from source

Requirements: Rust (stable) and Flutter (stable).

# Desktop agent
cd agent
cargo test
cargo run --release            # see --help for options

# End-to-end test of phone code against the real agent (Linux, needs Xvfb)
tools/e2e.sh
# The same on a headless GNOME Wayland session (mutter, portals, PipeWire)
tools/e2e-wayland.sh
# The updater: signed manifest, download, swap, takeover
tools/e2e-update.sh
# The Windows setup under Wine: install, self-update, uninstall
SETUP=PairDesk-Setup-x.y.z-x64.exe tools/e2e-windows-setup.sh
# Sound both ways, with echo cancelling (PipeWire)
tools/e2e-audio.sh
# "Get help" through the relay (build relay/ first: cd relay && cargo build)
tools/e2e-relay.sh

# Relay
cd relay && cargo test && cargo run -- --listen 127.0.0.1:47900

# Phone app
cd mobile
flutter test
flutter run                     # with a phone connected over USB
flutter build apk --release

Project layout

agent/      Rust desktop agent: TLS server, pairing, settings page, tray, input, updater
relay/      PairDesk relay: joins phones and computers that can't reach each other
mobile/     Flutter phone app (Android now, iPhone later)
packaging/  Icons, Windows setup and Store package, Linux packages, F-Droid and Flatpak
fastlane/   F-Droid listing: text, icon, screenshots, changelogs
site/       pairdesk.madhushan.me (Next.js, Tailwind, GSAP, Three.js, Lenis; static export)
docs/       Protocol, relay hosting, releasing, stores
tools/      End-to-end tests

The protocol and security design are described in docs/PROTOCOL.md; releases in docs/RELEASING.md; store submissions in docs/STORES.md.

Roadmap

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Licence

PairDesk is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.